The Shining Chapter 35 Summary

How It All Goes Down

The Lobby

Danny tells them everything that happened to him in the playground, everything but the part about the snow caving in on the little tunnel he'd dug. For some reason, he holds that back. But he tells them about the hearing the lumps of snow falling and about the hedge animals chasing him. He repeats the story a second time.

He tries to keep his voice steady. If he lets them see his panic, if he starts crying and can't stop them "THE MEN IN THE WHITE COATS" (35.80) might be called to come for him, just like with Mr. Stenger. If he can't stop crying they'll think he's "LOST HIS MARBLES" (35.80).

Jack, whose face has taken on a "pinched, deathly look," calls Danny to him. Wendy protests, but Jack says he just wants to talk to Danny.

He points out the window and asks Danny what he sees. Danny sees where Jack is going with the line of questioning. He tells Jack that yes, only Danny's tracks are visible, and the hedge animals are still blanketed in snow. But, Danny insists they chased him, and that one of them cut his leg.

Wendy tells Jack to stop questioning Danny like this. Jack says he's "trying to help the boy see the difference between something real and something that was only a hallucination" (35.100).

Danny continues trying to convince his father and then, suddenly, he realizes that Jack knows. He tells him, "You know because you saw—" (35.108).

Jack slaps him; his head goes back, and the mark is instantly visible on his check.

Then Jack starts apologizing, and Wendy calls him a "bastard" (35.112).

Wendy takes one of Danny's arms, and Jack takes the other, and they both pull. Danny says, "Oh pleases stop pulling me!" (35.114). His voice is full of desperation. When they let go he begins sobbing.

Wendy has given Danny baby aspirin, and he's asleep now.

She apologizes for calling Jack a bastard, but says it was wrong of him to slap Danny. He says he doesn't know what came over him.

She reminds him that he "promised [he'd] never hit [Danny] again" (35.120).

First he's overcome with rage, but then his face drops and Wendy sees "what Jack would look like as an old man" (35.121). She thinks he looks like he's given up fighting.

Wendy says that it's been decided. If the park service comes to check on them, they will leave the Overlook. Jack agrees, and for the moment, is sincere. It's like when he was drinking. In the mornings he'd vow to stop, but by night had changed his mind.

If Wendy would just ask him what Danny was talking about when he said "you know because you saw—" he would confess everything to her. He isn't sure, though, if he can tell her that he tossed out the part for the snowmobile.

Wendy offers Jack a tea. Before she goes to make it she says this is her fault too. If she and Jack hadn't been having sex and napping, this wouldn't have happened.